Which breastfeeding method to choose - according to the regimen (hours) or according to the first requirement?

Almost every young mother who decides to breastfeed her baby faces a choice: what approach to feeding should she follow? The older generation in the face of grandmothers, adult relatives and some doctors insist that the baby should suckle breasts for hours. However, information is constantly coming from the Internet and other sources that the baby should receive Mommy’s milk at the very first request. What to choose: breastfeeding at the request of the child or by the hour? Let’s try to understand what the essence of both approaches is.

Mode or Clock Feeding

We read useful articles on the topic:

– Breastfeeding Tips (mega useful article!)

Once every 3 hours

Clock-feeding is a relatively modern “invention.” This feeding system appeared in the post-war Soviet era, when women, barely becoming mothers, were forced to go to work. Given the conditions of that time, it was just a vital necessity, and since it was impossible to adjust the work schedule to the needs of the child, it was necessary to do the opposite: to adapt the child to the mother’s schedule.

According to this approach, the baby receives breasts at intervals of three hours and sucks a maximum of 20 minutes. At night, a break between feedings is 6 hours.

The advantages of feeding by the hour are not many, and yet one can distinguish something:

• Along with feeding by the hour, a clear regime of the day is built. It turns out that the mother knows exactly what time the baby will suckle, and at what time she will be free. You can plan your day and excommunication.
• When the baby adjusts to this feeding regimen, mom will have more peaceful nights.

The disadvantages of such a feeding system for both the nursing mother and the baby:

• Kids can hardly endure such long breaks without a chest, so in case of screaming you will have to be persistent and be prepared to distract the child, occupy him with something, and switch his attention.
• At different feedings, the baby can suckle breasts with different intensities, so in 20 minutes he can receive a different amount of milk each time. This leads to the fact that in some of the applications the child won't eat up, which means that it will be less than the required weight gain and it will have to be fed with a mixture.
• Mom is more likely to have breast problems. If the breast is not emptied in time, it overflows, which leads to such an unpleasant process as lactostasis (stagnation of milk in the ducts). This is a very painful condition accompanied by high fever.Sometimes you have to turn to specialists for help, because you can’t "decant" your breast on your own.
• The most dangerous consequence of hourly feeding is the extinction of lactation. Milk production depends on the content of the hormone prolactin in the blood. This hormone is produced in response to sucking, so the more the baby sucks, the longer the woman feeds. If breast stimulation is insufficient, milk begins to be produced less and less. Especially dangerous is the lack of prolactin in the first months, when lactation is only getting better. In those times when hourly feeding was a common pattern, most women fed no more than 6 months.
• From a psychological point of view, feeding by the hour is also not good for the baby. It turns out that the mother ignores the needs of the child, denying him the opportunity to receive breasts at the very first cry. The sucking reflex of the child is satisfied only to a small degree, and this can form the habit of sucking a finger or fist.

On the first scream

On-demand feeding is often regarded as a kind of modern trend, but this approach is much older than hourly feeding. Moreover, it is not artificially designed. On-demand feeding is also called natural feeding, since such a method of breastfeeding developed naturally during the formation of a person.

Ancient women did not know the regime and did not try to decide for the child when he should eat. The baby was almost always on his mother’s arms, so getting a chest wasn’t a problem for him.

There are no complicated rules for natural feeding: the baby literally gets a breast for every cry and is at the breast for as long as he wants. The same principle applies to night feedings. By the way, for lactation, nightly feeding is simply necessary, because at night there is an increased production of prolactin.

The best mode of feeding a newborn - Dr. Komarovsky

Although on-demand feeding is a natural way of feeding babies, modern women do not always find this approach convenient. For a modern mother, the following minuses:

1. Until the baby begins to eat from the general table and breast milk ceases to be its main food, the mother always has to be ready to put things off for the sake of feeding her baby or to feed in a not very convenient place, because the baby can shout in the store, transport or the street. Of course, today for nursing mothers there are special clothes and underwear that allow you to feed discreetly. However, given the level of development of the culture of breastfeeding in our country, not every woman will decide to feed her baby in a public place.
2. Since the baby also determines the time spent near the breast, it may be that your baby will love to sleep with breasts in the mouth (many babies do this), chasing the mother to one place for a long time.
3. Babies who are breastfed often wake up at night, and mom has to either get up to bed or take the baby into her parents bed, which is not acceptable for everyone.
4. A very difficult question for many mothers is excommunication. If in the case of feeding by the hour, lactation almost always stops itself ahead of time, then when feeding on demand, the mother either deliberately wean the baby from the breast when it decides for itself, and this is often a painful procedure, or feeds until self-weaning, which can occur even after 2 years .

But the advantages of feeding on demand are very significant and it is not reasonable to neglect them.

1. If the baby is breastfed, you can not worry about weight gain and harmonious physical development, because the child is guaranteed to receive all the necessary nutrients.
2. Such children are much less likely to have problems with their tummy, since breast milk is a fully adapted food for immature baby gastrointestinal tract. Babies receiving breasts on demand do not need to be doped with water and fed early, so their intestines work better and do not cause problems for either the child or parents.
3. For mom, breastfeeding is an excellent way to prevent potential breast problems. Since the breasts are emptied in a timely manner, the risks of lactostasis are minimal.
4. Lactation takes place without problems, which means that a shortage of milk does not threaten anyone and the mother can feed the baby for as long as she wants.
5. Children who are breastfed can do without a dummy. The need for it disappears, because the baby's sucking reflex is completely satisfied by sucking on her mother’s breast. Given that there is no consensus on sucking a dummy, and this is still a foreign object for a child, the ability to refuse a dummy is a big plus.
6. In general, babies who receive breasts on first demand grow calmer and more confident. Their needs are not ignored, they know that they can always get what they need from their mother.

It is safe to say that feeding according to the regime (or by the hour) is rather a relic of the past, and now this approach is significantly worse than feeding on demand. The vast majority of modern mothers have the opportunity not to go to work a few months after the birth of the baby, so it is not necessary to introduce a strict feeding regimen.

From the point of view of the baby, feeding on demand is natural and harmonious, as provided by nature. With a good mood for motherhood and child care for a woman, such a system also becomes convenient.

We also read: What is the best feed - on demand or by the hour

GV on demand or by mode - video